NXom6 TIL: Speed Skiing was a Demonstration Sport only in the 1992 Albertville Olympics.
l7kaa TIL that most “CGI” in Jurassic Park (1993) was actually practical effects and animatronics, with CGI used only for a few shots, which is why the movie still looks convincing today.
8eWmb TIL that the first person to ever be "banned" from the internet was a lawyer named Laurence Canter in 1994. He sent the first massive commercial spam email (advertising green card services). The backlash was so big that his ISP received so many complaints it crashed their servers.
P1GmZ TIL about Broomgate where during the 2015-2016 curling season had a technology doping scandal. Where new brush head technology drastically changed gameplay. This resulted in the standardized yellow brush head we see on brooms in today's competitive curling.
ep8rg TIL After Columbus' discovery of the Americas, Isabella I established Casa de Contratación in 1503, from there, no Spaniard could sail anywhere without its approval.
VBy4G TIL Richard Garfield the creator of Magic : The Gathering is the great-great grandson of President James A. Garfield, the 20th President of The United States of America
X0x9X TIL that Steve Irwin's TV career only went for 10 years (He did his first show in 1996 and died in 2006)
OG1bL TIL David Eisenhower, grandson of Dwight Eisenhower & son in law of Richard Nixon (married to his daughter Julie), is one of the inspirations for the song Fortunate Son. His father also changed the name of the presidential retreat from Camp Shangri-La to Camp David after him & his own father.
69npY TIL Blue Jays can imitate the cry of a Red Tailed Hawk. Often to scare away competition from a food source.
wovMJ TIL Christopher Columbus made significant errors in estimating the distance to Asia. If the Americas didn't exist, then he'd have ran out of food and died long before reaching Japan.
R5Jmw TIL that while researching oral poetry in Yugoslavia, researcher Milman Parry asked poet Milovan Vojičić to compose an improvised poem about himself. Using epithets and other formulaic phrases, Vojičić was able to write a short poem dubbed "the Song of Milman Parry".
W7A5X TIL they used to put train cars on a ferry across Lake Michigan